Canadian quads born in Montana

CALGARY, Alberta – Having already defied astronomical odds, the parents of rare identical quadruplets wanted to see just how far their luck would go.

They went out and bought a lottery ticket.

“We bought several,” Karen Jepp admitted Tuesday.

“We’re not usually lottery people but we said, ‘OK, let’s buy a lottery ticket,’ and didn’t match a single number,” added her husband, J.P.

“We’ve, I think, used up all our luck and I’d rather use it up on our girls than a lottery, to be very honest.”

The Calgary parents are turning their thoughts to what will face them when they bring the babies, born earlier this month in a Montana hospital, home this fall to join their toddler brother, Simon. They admit they’re overwhelmed and nervous.

“I think I’m starting to feel a little panicked about bringing four babies home with a 2-year-old and how I’m going to manage it at all,” Karen Jepp said.

There is also the rather important matter of telling four identical babies apart.

“Right now, we tell them apart with the labels over their beds,” said their father. “If you were to do a shell game and put them in the same unit, it would be hard to tell them apart, and that gives me a little bit of anxiety, to be honest.”

The couple is considering more name tags, different color nail polish or even tattoos, although Karen Jepp said that likely won’t be happening.

“I don’t want them poked anymore.”

The Jepps met with reporters at Calgary’s Alberta Children’s Hospital where the quads – Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia – are being cared for in a special neonatal unit.

The sisters were born at the Benefis HealthCare Center in Great Falls on Aug. 12. They were sent there because of a shortage of neonatal beds in Canada.

“If they had been born here, there was a very good chance that the babies would be transferred to multiple different centers, which is never in the best interests of the family or the babies,” explained Dr. Philippa Brain, an obstetrician who worked with the family throughout the pregnancy.

“The only hospital that had enough neonatal beds was Montana, so we made a decision she would be in a center that could take care of her and the babies.”

“It was the right decision to send us to Montana,” said J.P. “I’m glad we were able to have all four girls together there and that Karen was able to get such great care.”

Brain called the naturally conceived quads “a very rare event.”

“I’ve heard it can be anywhere from one in 13 million to one in 64 million.”